New York wasn’t welcoming.It didn’t open its arms to Zara Lane’s return.It bared its teeth.Skyscrapers loomed like silent judges. Every sidewalk crack felt like a whisper: You shouldn’t have come back.But she didn’t come to be welcomed.She came to reclaim her throne.And this time, she was bringing the fire with her.—The first thing she did was buy a building.Not rent.Buy.A fifty-story glass tower in Tribeca, just across the street from Juliette’s old showroom—now boarded up and rotting like a corpse no one dared touch.Zara renamed her new headquarters House of Lane.The name was carved into obsidian stone at the entrance, right beneath a phoenix emblem—wings spread wide, feathers gilded with real gold.She didn’t announce her return.She didn’t need to.Fashion Week sent an invitation within hours of the building’s first light turning on.Headliner.Prime slot.New York’s fallen daughter risen again.Zara declined the mainstage.She would host her own show.On her own term
Zara didn’t sleep.Not after the cathedral.Not after walking straight into Juliette’s blood-stained circus and leaving with her empire gasping.Not after Alec slid the flash drive into her hand like it was a match and the world was waiting to burn.She stayed up until sunrise.Alone.Back at the Paris hotel suite with every light off except the one above her sketch table.No guards.No assistants.No Alec.Only her, the flash drive, and a truth she wasn’t sure she was ready to face.But she did.Because Zara Lane wasn’t built to flinch.She clicked it in.And watched secrets unravel like seams in silk.—Juliette had been planning the takedown for over a year.Not weeks.Not months.A year.Since before Zara left New York.Since before Blackwell Fashion announced its expansion into Europe.Every leaked design, every sabotage, every partnership lost—strategically orchestrated.By Juliette.And…Zara stopped breathing.By someone inside her company.She clicked deeper.Saw coded emails
The invitation arrived on blood-red parchment.Tied with a black ribbon, sealed with wax, and delivered by hand—slipped under Zara’s door like a threat in disguise.She opened it with careful fingers.You are cordially invited to the Juliette Blackwell Fall Legacy Show.Location: Confidential until RSVP.Date: Three days from now.Dress: Show us what you’re made of.There was no logo.No address.No contact.Just a QR code.And a challenge wrapped in velvet.Alec looked over her shoulder and let out a low, humorless laugh. “She’s putting you in the lion’s mouth.”Zara smiled slowly. “Then let’s bring knives.”—Juliette’s show wasn’t listed anywhere in Paris Fashion Week’s official program.That was the point.It wasn’t a showcase. It was a trap.And everyone who was someone wanted to fall into it.Influencers began posting cryptic teasers.Stylists canceled fittings with Zara’s team.Buyers grew cold.And then the real betrayal came.Dior pulled out of their partnership.Without warn
Zara didn’t breathe until the show ended.Not during the thunderous applause.Not when the final model walked the runway in the gown she’d redesigned from Juliette’s threat.Not even when Alec reached for her hand and pulled her into the spotlight like they’d been built for war.It was only when the lights dimmed, the curtains fell, and the cameras turned elsewhere that she let the breath escape her lips—jagged, shaky, laced with everything she couldn’t say out loud.“You did it,” Alec murmured behind her, his hand resting on the small of her back. “You burned them alive.”She turned to him, eyes still aflame. “We’re not done yet.”He smiled, slow and sharp. “No. We’re not.”The afterparty was held at a historic Parisian château-turned-private club. All marble columns, chandeliers, and hidden alcoves. The kind of place where secrets drank champagne and scandals dressed in Dior.Everyone who mattered was there.Designers. Editors. Investors. And Bianca Renault.Zara saw her across the
Zara didn’t sleep. Not after Juliette’s sudden appearance, not with Alec’s arm still warm around her waist like a question mark she couldn’t answer.She waited until his breathing shifted into something deep, soft, and trusting. Then she slipped from the sheets, silent as a ghost. Her bare feet kissed the cold marble floor as she moved through the penthouse, her body wrapped in Alec’s black silk shirt and her mind wrapped in war.Juliette didn’t come here by accident.The woman never did anything unless it set fire to someone’s kingdom.Zara padded to her home studio—what had once been Alec’s wine room and now housed sketches, fabric rolls, mannequins, and the growing chaos of a designer preparing for Paris Fashion Week.A single piece of crimson satin lay on the table, cut like a warning. She dragged her fingers along the edge, letting her thoughts spiral.Juliette had offered connections. Zara knew what that meant—dirty hands in cleaner gloves. Sponsors who whispered threats between
Juliette’s heels echoed through the penthouse like gunshots, each step a reminder of the chaos she carried like perfume. Zara closed the door slowly, fingers twitching by her side as she kept the stiletto hidden in her robe’s pocket.“I thought we were done,” Zara said.Juliette turned with that maddening smirk. “You thought wrong.”Alec’s voice came from behind, groggy but sharp. “What the hell is she doing here?”Juliette’s gaze flicked over him with bored disdain. “Don’t flatter yourself, Blackwell. I’m not here for you. I’m here for her.”She tossed the envelope onto the glass table. It landed with a loud thwack—a contract soaked in blood.Zara didn’t flinch. “What’s this?”“An agreement. Signed by your father in 1997. It gives me ownership of everything—should the ZML line ever go global.”Alec’s body tensed beside her. “That’s impossible.”Juliette shrugged, removing her gloves. “He used your mother’s name to sign the deal. I have witnesses. And now that you’ve announced the Eur